In a year when more than 13 million hours of video was uploaded to YouTube, viewers in New Zealand and around the world were captivated by double rainbows, cheeky Rico, and Old Spice. This year, the New Zealand results encapsulated everything from Rugby, with Air New Zealand’s safety video, to disaster, with a Christchurch earthquake video, and film, with the trailer for ‘Boy’. The most-watched video on YouTube was Paul Henry’s acceptance speech at the Qantas Film and Television awards, and he was followed closely by our beloved Rico from the Air New Zealand advertisements. Globally, the most watched YouTube video of 2010 was Bed Intruder Song by YouTube partner Auto-Tune the News aka the Gregory Brothers. Inspired by a local news segment, this song featuring an ‘auto-tuned’ version of Alabama man Antoine Dodson entered the music charts, and the revenue it generated helped Dodson purchase a new home. “The most-watched YouTube videos of 2010 reflect the people, places and events that captured our attention and imagination throughout the year,” said Mia Quagliarello, YouTube Community Manager. “YouTube has become the world’s town square - a place where culture is created and shared. It’s a sign of YouTube’s growing importance as a platform for content creation that six of the top 10 most-watched videos globally were made-for-YouTube originals.” In New Zealand, the most-watched YouTube videos were:

The most-searched for queries on YouTube during the year show what was on our collective minds as 2010 played out. Like Google Zeitgeist, these lists reveal the interests, issues, and entertainment that connected us - remember these moments? Most searched for terms during 2010 in New Zealand, by month, were:January - Haiti February - Luge March - lady gaga telephone April - omg usher May - airplanes (b.o.b.) June - billionaire July - cody simpson August - teenage dream September - christchurch eathquake October - dikshit November - what’s my name More awesome YouTube moments of 2010: